Yoga: MC2 Review

Yoga: MC2 is from the Tony Horton 1on 1 series, in volume 3, or "p90x 1on 1." The workouts in volume 3 are meant to be test runs for workouts that may be used in the new p90x:MC2. Yoga is a sub for the original Yoga X, and has many similar moves, a few new moves, but is in general a much different sequence. The best part of this workout is that Tony sometimes gives pointers on form that are above and beyond the directions from the original Yoga X. For example, he hits on footwork in the various warrior positions and also gives extra tips on chair pose. However, since this workout is essentially Tony's personal workout taped, he doesn't always give great cues. Sometimes I would be in a downward dog and then realize that 5 seconds ago he had already moved on to the next exercise! However, if you watch the series one time all the way through before doing the workout you should be fine, and there were only a couple times that I felt I was behind. The workout is about 63 minutes - essentially the opening stretches and moving asanas take up most of the video, though there is a little bit of stretching and balance postures at the end, and while not a true relaxation built in, there is one complimentary "Ohm" at the very end!

The original Yoga X is set up to have the first 40 minutes of the DVD as moving asanas, where you are taught the moves as you go, so that it builds to increasingly more complicated moves more naturally. For MC2, you will need to already be familiar with these basic poses, because Tony essentially sets up 3 cycles of move combinations that move straight from one to the next, not necessarily building, just changing. For example, you are basically already doing Half Moons towards the beginning of the workout. In between each cycle is a group of balance postures or chair pose type exercises. I like this because you aren't on the floor the entire time, standing moves are interspersed several times throughout. Some of the advanced moves are very complicated and I had trouble completing them, but even in the MC2 version, Tony is great about giving modified moves.

Most of the DVD is equally as hard as the original yoga, or perhaps at times even harder. The two things truly missed in the workout are the Yoga Belly 7 and the relaxation at the end, but Tony clearly says that it was because of time constraints, they are really held to about an hour with the 1 on 1 workouts. Because of this, I'd imagine that the new Yoga that will be coming out in the next p90x will be closer in structure to the 90 minute version, but with some of the new moves from this DVD.

Overall, this is a great workout and is what a lot of people could use, since we all hear complaints that "Yoga X is too long" all the time! You get a very similar workout in 63 minutes. I would suggest having mastered the original Yoga X before moving on to this one - if I had started here I would have been overwhelmed and probably lost as well. Though there is less cueing, if you know Tony's yoga repertory from the original, you will be able to do fine, and as I said, sometimes he even dives deeper into explaining form than you get in Yoga X.